Partnership Helps Somerset Hills Y Arrange Counseling for At-Risk Youth, Families

The Somerset Hills YMCA is bringing in a little outside assistance so it can help at-risk youth and their families get the counseling they need.

The local Y has teamed up with the Red Bank-based Community YMCA's Counseling and Social Services Division to form a group of behavioral assistance counselors. The effort follows the Somerset Hills Y's Mental Health Week in May, which members say was a successful outreach effort.

"Mental Health Week at the YMCA was extremely well-received and attracted more than 350 people who wanted to learn and talk about a variety of mental health topics," Lauren Luik, Y Healthy Outcome Partnership Steering Committee chair and member of the Somerset Hills YMCA Board of Directors, said in a press release.

Since Aug. 1, members of the Community YMCA have been able to set up shop at the Somerset Hills Y for training sessions. After local Y counselors receive training, they will be able to field calls and refer people in need to licensed professionals who will provide in-home services.

"This service that we are providing, it's a referral service only," said Andrea Williams, director of public relations at the Somerset Hills YMCA. "So a person that is being hired has to be based here part-time. They will take the call and will be able to refer services to therapy in-home. We are not providing any therapy here at the YMCA; it's all in-home counseling. So they'll be using a licensed social worker who will already be trained in the field."

"Though counseling  services will not be offered at the Somerset Hills YMCA through this partnership, we believe it is an important strategic alliance that will help guide us toward [the Healthy Outcome Partnership's] ultimate objective—to create a mental health resource and referral service right here at the Y," said Bob Lomauro, president and CEO of the organization.

After Mental Health Week, the Somerset Hills YMCA realized there was still a need for families of people with disabilities to seek help, representatives said. The problem was that there was hardly anywhere to turn. That's when Luik decided to seek out a way for the the Healthy Outcome Partnership to get help for those families.

"We had already run a couple of events that dealt with mental health issues here at the YMCA," said Williams. "Of the results of that we saw that there was still a need in the community for people to be able to find resources and support, but really there is nowhere to turn. So [Luik] looked around and found this service to be running out of the Community YMCA and we approached them about being able to fashion the same kind of service that they offer."

The Community YMCA is old hand at such issues, as they it has doled out behavioral health services for over 35 years to  people in Monmouth County. The plan for the partnership with the Healthy Outcome Partnership and the Somerset Hills Y is to spread the style and skills of home-based counseling that the Community YMCA has cultivated. 

"The new partnership offers us not only a physical presence in the northern part of the county, but an alliance with the Somerset Hills YMCA, a well known and respected organization with similar values and mission," said George Hunt, vice president of counseling and Social Services at the Community YMCA.